A few comments:
Generally anything you get for that price will be a netbook and/or a pretty cheap notebook. I can't see how you could spend $300 on a notebook (not netbook) and get anything resembling quality. I suppose there might be a door-crasher special that would be okay, but then you just have to take your chances. Acer computers tend to be EXTREMELY cheaply made.
A netbook would be fast enough for his needs, but the screen would probably be too small, either physically (all netbooks have 10" screens) or by resolution (pretty much all 1024x600).
Also, I don't know why you wrote "...Future Shop, and (Ugh) Best Buy", given that they're the same company since Best Buy bought Future Shop a few years ago. I thought everyone knew that.
Kevin
On Fri, Dec 24, 2010 at 3:04 PM, Mike Pfaiffer high.res.mike@gmail.comwrote:
Merry Christmas and happy holidays (what ever works for you - younever know). ;-)
My father had decided to look at a laptop. He wants to put hisfamily tree program on it and take it for a trip out East this spring. He has seen me running Linux on my desktop for years and thinks he would like to give it a try on the laptop. Even in a dual-boot configuration. Being cheap (a typical Winnipegger) he is only willing to spend $200 -$300 for the machine. There are some "deals" in the advertising for Staples, Future Shop, and (Ugh) Best Buy. He is serious enough to risk going out on Boxing day (and this is from a guy who is afraid of crossing to the West side of the Red).
The question is what are some good brands and locations to scopeout?
Later Mike
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